Source: The Internet
There was once a Gahapati (a kind of Buddhist devotee) who cultivated the Buddhist Path in an ancient temple in China. After cultivating for a certain period of time, his mind became suspicious:
He doubted whether he had made the right decision to practise Buddhism.
He doubted whether he had the natural talent to cultivate the Buddhist Path.
He doubted whether there was truly a Buddha realm.
He even doubted those Buddhist cultivators in the temple – since they all seemed to lead a life of leisure, without doing much at all, he doubted whether they truly cultivated the Buddhist path, and how many principles they truly understood.
One day, as he left the temple, he saw that an ox had been tied to a tree trunk with a piece of rope. The ox tried to escape. However, it failed to struggle free and ended up going round in circles. The Buddhist devotee thought to himself, “How can this ox be so stupid, it’s obvious that it can’t be free, yet, still it keeps going round in circles. I would raise this subject to test the old Lama in the temple. ”
He went back to the temple and asked the old Lama, “Why go round in circles?”
The old Lama replied, “Because the rope is not cut.”
When he heard this, he was greatly surprised and thought to himself, “I was the one who saw the ox that was tied to a tree by a rope and going round in circles. However, the old Lama wasn’t outside, could it be that he has the ‘third eye’? Otherwise, how else could he have known?”
The old Lama saw the frightened expression on the devotee’s face and asked, “Gahapati, what’s troubled you so badly? Have I given you the wrong answer?”
“No, no, you weren’t wrong. It’s just that you shouldn’t have seen what I witnessed! How’s it possible that you can give me an answer?”
“What did you see then?”
“I saw an ox, being tied to a tree, by a rope, with no means of escape, hence going round in circles. You didn’t see this, yet you managed to give me an answer.”
Having heard this, the Gahapati immediately knelt down in repentance and said, “I shouldn’t hold suspicious attitude towards Buddha Dharma and fellow monks. I believe in ‘Buddha’, yet I doubt whether there’s truly a Buddha realm; I believe in ‘Dharma’, yet I don’t make any effort to adopt them in my daily life; I believe in ‘Sangha’, yet I doubt their conduct and wisdom. Although, I ‘believe’ in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, however, suspicions arise in me, thus producing obstacles that prevent me from cultivating Buddhism diligently. I should cut off this rope of suspicion in my mind so that I can sincerely follow the practice of Buddhism.”
This story may be simple and still explains the principle of ‘Harmonization of matter and truth’. When there is no ‘doubt’ in one’s inner mind and one’s state of mind is crystal clear, one will see matters as they are; and only then, can one truly accept the principles of others.
‘Doubt’ and ‘Belief’ are both derived from one’s mind. Hence, we all should strive to look after our faith and not to have doubts; if we can do this, the ‘correct path’ is right by our side.
Please, all of you should use your mind more!
